Hillsboro residents will see a 5-percent increase to water bill
By
-
Hillsboro residents will see a scheduled increase of 5 percent to their water bills beginning in October.
"Our water fund, for several years now, has been in desperate need of increases, that they have not had" Dave Shoemaker, chairperson of the Hillsboro City Council's utilities committee, told The Highland County Press. "When we established the water increases, we established them to go forward. We are going to go ahead with the 5-percent increase in water. We are going to have to also be looking at sewer (rate increases)."
In August 2009 council voted to free the sewer rate increases and in March of this year council voted to indefinitely freeze a 28-percent increase to sewer rates that had been scheduled to take effect in September. In April, Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink told council that he had concerns about freezing the rates, as the year to date income for water revenue was down approximately $10,000 and sewer revenue was down approximately $40,000.
Council has not extensively discussed the increases since that time, but Shoemaker said the numbers have been studied.
It was noted in a utilities committee meeting held Sept. 1 that the multi-million dollar renovations to the wastewater treatment plant are 28-percent complete.
"The city set up the increases two years ago," Shoemaker said. "We set this up because we had to do this to provide infrastructure to get water to your home."
Shoemaker said that previous city leadership collected enough funds through water and sewer bills to pay off the loans of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, but not enough for maintenance and loans. That has resulted in deteriorating sewer and water lines throughout the city.
In 2008, the utilities committee worked for several months with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) in developing incremental increases to the water and sewer to build up those funds for capital improvements, and includes the following increases:
Ordinance 2008-08, "to adjust the rates charged for water usage, amends the current water rate schedule for "the first 133 cubic feet per month according to the following schedule ... for water usage of the previous month, in each of the following years: year 2008, $7.18; year 2009, $7.68; year 2010, $8.07; year 2011, $8.47; year 2012, $8.77; year 2013, $9.08; year 2014, $9.39; year 2015, $9.72; year 2016, $10.06, and the same rate thereafter unless amended by council."
Ordinance 2008-04: "regarding the minimum monthly sanitary sewer charge will be from 0 cubic feet to 133 cubic feet of water usage, regardless of the amount of water metered, and shall be according to the following schedule ... billing, for sewer usage the previous month, in each of the following years: year 2008, $24.21; year 2009, $31.11; year 2010, $37.65; year 2011, $43.30; year 2012, $45.46; year 2013, $47.73; 2014, $50.12; year 2015, $51.87; year 2016, $53.69.
Hillsboro residents will see a scheduled increase of 5 percent to their water bills beginning in October.
"Our water fund, for several years now, has been in desperate need of increases, that they have not had" Dave Shoemaker, chairperson of the Hillsboro City Council's utilities committee, told The Highland County Press. "When we established the water increases, we established them to go forward. We are going to go ahead with the 5-percent increase in water. We are going to have to also be looking at sewer (rate increases)."
In August 2009 council voted to free the sewer rate increases and in March of this year council voted to indefinitely freeze a 28-percent increase to sewer rates that had been scheduled to take effect in September. In April, Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink told council that he had concerns about freezing the rates, as the year to date income for water revenue was down approximately $10,000 and sewer revenue was down approximately $40,000.
Council has not extensively discussed the increases since that time, but Shoemaker said the numbers have been studied.
It was noted in a utilities committee meeting held Sept. 1 that the multi-million dollar renovations to the wastewater treatment plant are 28-percent complete.
"The city set up the increases two years ago," Shoemaker said. "We set this up because we had to do this to provide infrastructure to get water to your home."
Shoemaker said that previous city leadership collected enough funds through water and sewer bills to pay off the loans of the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, but not enough for maintenance and loans. That has resulted in deteriorating sewer and water lines throughout the city.
In 2008, the utilities committee worked for several months with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) in developing incremental increases to the water and sewer to build up those funds for capital improvements, and includes the following increases:
Ordinance 2008-08, "to adjust the rates charged for water usage, amends the current water rate schedule for "the first 133 cubic feet per month according to the following schedule ... for water usage of the previous month, in each of the following years: year 2008, $7.18; year 2009, $7.68; year 2010, $8.07; year 2011, $8.47; year 2012, $8.77; year 2013, $9.08; year 2014, $9.39; year 2015, $9.72; year 2016, $10.06, and the same rate thereafter unless amended by council."
Ordinance 2008-04: "regarding the minimum monthly sanitary sewer charge will be from 0 cubic feet to 133 cubic feet of water usage, regardless of the amount of water metered, and shall be according to the following schedule ... billing, for sewer usage the previous month, in each of the following years: year 2008, $24.21; year 2009, $31.11; year 2010, $37.65; year 2011, $43.30; year 2012, $45.46; year 2013, $47.73; 2014, $50.12; year 2015, $51.87; year 2016, $53.69.
[[In-content Ad]]